Last month we held our first-ever company-wide hackathon, challenging every member of our technical team to use artificial intelligence to solve problems, build new tools, and experiment with emerging tech, all in just one day.
The event, fuelled by Rudy's pizzas and a competitive spirit, saw developers, designers, strategists, and QA specialists step away from client projects and pick from a range of ‘tickets’ covering technical debt fixes, passion projects, and creative experiments. The only rule was that AI had to play a role, whether in researching a solution, generating code, or shaping the idea.
Projects ranged from meaningful business improvements to playful innovations. On the fun side, one standout build was an interface between Amazon Alexa and Slack, allowing our team to play music in the office on demand.
The hackathon produced a new AI-powered estimation and bid process tool, built entirely in-house using our own AI model. The system uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to tap into our extensive library of past pitch documents, delivering contextually accurate and relevant outputs for future proposals.
This system will streamline the bidding process, analyse past proposals, and even feed into retrospectives when pitches are unsuccessful, ensuring lessons learned are immediately built into future wins.
The day also sparked work on several emerging technology initiatives, including:
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AR overlays for immersive mobile experiences triggered directly from client websites
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VR walkthroughs to showcase our offices and culture to prospective clients and recruits
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An AI-powered customer chatbot to support and engage clients in real time
Prizes were awarded for the most tickets completed, most innovative solution, and best use of AI, with winners receiving cash prizes and CTI Digital hoodies.
Chris Burgess, CEO at CTI Digital, said, “We’ve been delivering digital transformation for 21 years, but the pace of change has never been faster. Hackathons like this keep us ahead of the curve, give our people hands-on experience with emerging tools, and break down silos between teams. It’s innovation in action, and it’s a lot of fun too.”
The hackathon also had a serious side. Many of the solutions developed on the day will move into production, delivering direct benefits to clients and internal operations. Our teams explored AI's potential in areas like automated QA, content generation, and data analysis, helping us sharpen our edge in an increasingly competitive market.
Burgess added, “We're just scratching the surface of what’s possible with AI. Events like this help us discover practical, real-world applications and build the confidence to bring them into client projects.”
